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PayPal has recently released a slew of updates to its mobile app, bringing with it numerous features aimed at carving out a place in our digital wallets. With more and more people moving their life into the digital realm, companies like Square, Google, and PayPal are moving swiftly to gain the first mover advantage in the financial app market.

Some of the most notable features of PayPal’s latest’s updates include, the ability to find shops around you via GPS, the ability to order products and services before you arrive at said shops, and special promotional discounts and coupons, which apply automatically during your checkout process.

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In a strange yet potentially devastating move for Indian companies and freelancers, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has introduced new directives which forces PayPal to restrict any payment for out-of-country services or goods to $500. This means companies and individuals from India wanting to sell services or products to customers outside of the country will have to keep it to a maximum price of $500 per transaction or do so using other means.

It's unclear why the restrictions were added. It's likely that this will impact the economy of the country, which is becoming very popular in several tech related sectors, especially over the Internet, where PayPal payments are common. The likely outcome is increased corruption, and alternative means of money exchange booming as a result of this.

PayPal is the latest WikiLeaks opponent to be hit with a denial of service attack by anti-piracy group Operation Payback, joining the growing ranks of WikiLeaks opponents that have been targeted.

Operation Payback has also indicated that Amazon is its next target.

"The attacks slowed the Web site itself down for a short while, but did not significantly impact payments," said a PayPal spokesperson.

Last week, PayPal permanently restricted the account used by WikiLeaks "due to a violation of the PayPal Acceptable Use Policy." In a blog post on Wednesday, PayPal general counsel John Muller said that the company's "difficult decision was based on a belief that the WikiLeaks Web site was encouraging sources to release classified material, which is likely a violation of the law by the source."

Muller said PayPal will release the remaining funds to the foundation that was raising money for WikiLeaks, though the organization's account will remain restricted.

It would appear that BlackBerry App World will soon be arriving. Although it is not open yet, you can register now to know when it will be available. Purchasing must be made through PayPal, so you had best sign up for that, too. The requirements are that your smartphone must have an operating system of 4.2 or higher and have a trackball or SurePress touchscreen. RIM is also calling for applications so if you come up with one, let them know.

eBay has finally taken the Amazon hint and is altering its fee structures for “Buy It Now” items. Going into effect next month, sellers of those and “Fixed Price” items will only pay $.35 for up to 30 days. Buyers can now only pay with credit or debit card, or PayPal.

Scot Wingo, from ChannelAdvisor, says about former opposition to fixed price sales, “The previous management tried to fight it. This management is more willing to ride along with it.”

No doubt eBay is hoping that this will increase flat out sales during the upcoming holiday season.

We got rather spooked after reading PayPal and Unsafe in the same headline. Having used the service for several years, we always wonder if it is really secure. The company says that those who use Internet Explorer 3 and 4 are the ones at risk because they don’t have enough security features to prevent phishing. If you use one of these you will be warned on the site and expect to be possibly blocked if you try to get in anyway.

The newest version supports EV SSL certificates. The comments were made in a paper written by the site’s Security Officer Michael Barrett and Risk Management Director Dan Levy. Our best advice? Head on over to IE and update to 7.0 or switch to Firefox.

Dell has decided on a new “Star Power” strategy to get you what you want this season, as long as it is one of their products. After you create your wish list on YoursIsHere and set up a virtual piggy bank through a PayPal account, celebrities Burt Reynolds, Chuck Liddell, Brooke Burke, Estelle Harris, Ice-T, or Vivica A. Fox will try to obtain it for you. Create a widget on social networking sites and watch the coinage mount up. We like the concept, but think we will wait until it is duplicated by Apple or Sony.

PayPal is an easy way to deploy e-commerce for your website. As easy as it is for a non-technical person to deploy, there are many situations where a little extra know how is needed. Instead of reading the manuals or cruising the developer boards filled with over 10,000 posts, you can read “Happy About Website Payments with PayPal”. It’s easy-to-read and full of tips and techniques that can be applied immediately. If you want to make more money with PayPal, this is the place to start. If you want to know what’s in this book and judge how relevant it will be for you, download this eBook. Best part, it’s free.